Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to providing distinctive audible alerts, and more particularly, to generating particularized audible alerts in response to receiving a telephone call.
Description of the Related Art
During the past few years the usage of electronic means for human communications has expanded rapidly. Numerous end user electronic devices used for such communication emit audible sounds to alert their owners or users of an incoming communication. As electronic communication devices become more commonplace, and as people use these devices more often, two problems have arisen. First, many people find frequent non-urgent communications disruptive because other activities are interrupted. Therefore there is a need to obtain information pertaining to the incoming communication prior to deciding whether or not to respond immediately. The second problem is confusion that often results in situations where two or more people each carrying a portable communication device are in close proximity to each other, and at least one person's device emits an audible alert. Often, at least one person whose communication device has not emitted an alert hears a nearby alert and erroneously attempts to accept a communication that doesn't involve their device. This, again, is a distraction and inconvenience.
Digital displays showing caller ID, in principle, address both of the above problems, but require the user to handle and/or look at the device. Again, this is distracting, disruptive, and/or inconvenient. Personalized ring tones, or audible alerts, help people distinguish an alert from their device from those of other people's devices. However, many people find the available rings/alerts irritating or “silly sounding”. Also, some individuals are not inclined to activate this feature or simply never learn how to use their phone's advanced features including personalized ring tones, or audible alerts.
Lastly, many phones today are capable of distinctive ringing, a feature whereby users can assign specific rings or alert sounds to each contact in their phone's contacts list. Many customers like this feature in principle, but don't actually use it because of practical shortcomings. Generally, today's distinctive rings/alerts require a cumbersome and time consuming setup, and they can only be assigned to a person or number after a corresponding contact has been entered (usually manually) into the phone's contacts list. Many people find the available rings/alerts irritating or “silly sounding”, and in crowded settings, often miss calls when they fail to recognize the less familiar alerts of infrequent callers. Finally, many customers simply never learn how to use their phone's advanced features including distinctive ringing.